What Is Auction Pitch?
Auction Pitch — also called Setback — is a popular American trick-taking game built around four specific scoring prizes: High, Low, Jack, and Game. Before each hand, players bid how many of these four prizes they will capture. The highest bidder names the trump suit by playing the first card — whatever suit they lead becomes trump. Make your bid and score points. Miss and your score goes backward — hence the nickname Setback.
What You Need
- One standard deck of 52 playing cards
- Two to seven players
- Score pad
The Four Prizes — What You’re Scoring For
- High: 1 point to whoever is dealt the highest trump card in the hand.
- Low: 1 point to whoever is DEALT the lowest trump card — you score Low simply by being dealt it, not by winning it in a trick.
- Jack: 1 point to whoever wins the trick containing the Jack of trump. If no Jack of trump was dealt to any player, this prize is not available this hand.
- Game: 1 point to whoever wins the most card-point value in their captured tricks. Values: Ace = 4, King = 3, Queen = 2, Jack = 1, Ten = 10. The Ten is the most valuable Game card. Ties result in no one scoring Game.
Setting Up the Game
- Deal six cards to each player.
- Bidding begins with the player to the left of the dealer.
Bidding
Going clockwise, each player bids a number from 1 to 4 representing how many of the four prizes they promise to capture — or passes. Each bid must be higher than the previous bid. The dealer may bid any number or steal the current bid at the same number (called buying it at that level).
The highest bidder is called the Pitcher. They will lead the first card, which determines trump.
How to Play
- The Pitcher leads any card from their hand. Whatever suit that card belongs to is now the trump suit for the entire hand.
- Going clockwise, players must follow suit if they have a card of the led suit.
- If you cannot follow suit, you must play trump if you have it. Only if you have neither the led suit nor trump can you play any other card.
- The highest trump wins any trick where trump was played. If no trump, the highest card of the led suit wins.
- The winner leads the next trick. Play all six tricks.
Scoring
- Pitcher makes their bid: Score the number of prizes actually captured — not the bid amount, just what was won.
- Pitcher fails their bid: Lose the bid amount — subtracted from their score. Scores can go negative, which is the setback.
- All other players: Always score whatever prizes they captured, regardless of the Pitcher’s result.
Winning
First player to reach 7 points wins. If the Pitcher and another player both reach 7 in the same hand, the Pitcher wins.
Tips for New Players
- A bid of 2 is the safest opening bid — High and Game are usually achievable with a reasonable hand.
- The Ten of trump is crucial for Game — it is worth 10 card points, more than all face cards combined.
- Lead trump immediately as the Pitcher to establish control — pulling opponents’ trump cards out early makes your side-suit Aces safer.